Falling flat on their faces with an embarrassing 31-7 loss to the No. 22 Florida State Seminoles (9-3) on Saturday at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, FL, the Florida Gators (7-5) completed their worst season under head coach Urban Meyer in lackluster fashion. OGGOA presents some important notes and quotes.

COMPLETE REBUILDING EFFORT PROMISED

Meyer got right to it after the loss Saturday, going on a mini-rant about what he needs to do in order to turn the Gators around immediately.

“I can assure you we are going to rebuild this thing and build it up the right way and do it right. Obviously we are down a little bit. I didn’t believe we would be that far down – but we are,” he said. How do you build up a program? I’ve done it a few times. You build it up with tough players, tough coaches, and you got to play better. You have to have a plan to win.

“Obviously this is the first time…2010 is the first time in 10 years we did not follow a plan to win. You can’t turn the ball over. I didn’t think our guys did not play hard…we [just] did not play smart. We did not coach smart and we didn’t take care of the ball. Four turnovers – I know at least three led to direct touchdowns. And I didn’t manage the game right on that fake punt. With that said, we’re going to be rebuild it right though, not wrong. We’re going to rebuild it right.”

He added that his immediate plan is to prepare the team to honor the seniors with a bowl win and recruit at a high level to infuse the program with some new players. “Recruit our butt off is what we’re going to do – and that starts tonight,” Meyer said. “Coaches are all on the road tomorrow, so we’re going to recruit our butt off and build this thing back up. Obviously we’re down. We got to build this thing back up. […] How do you rebuild it? Tough-ass players and tough-ass coaches.”

THE QUARTERBACKS AND JOHN BRANTLEY

Though the three-quarterback system was cute and effective coming out of the bye week against Georgia and the following week against Vanderbilt, it has blown up in Florida’s faces over the last few games. Whether that is because of how the coaching staff has handled the transition of signal callers during drives (mostly) or simply the concept all together (somewhat), Meyer said it will certainly be looked at soon and could be completely revamped before the bowl game.

“There’s a chance, sure. I have no idea [right now]. I know one thing – we went up and down the field before our quarterback-slash-tight end got hurt. Had some decent drives. I think we ran the ball for 200-something yards. We were just really ineffective in certain areas. Really, really ineffective,” he said. “If that’s because of three quarterbacks, we’ll blow that thing completely out of the water. We’re in immediacy and then we’re in the future; right now we’re in immediacy, we’re going to do everything we can to win the bowl game and work our tail off.”

It should be noted that Meyer has referred to redshirt freshman Jordan Reed as someone who will play tight end for this team in the future, mentioning that is the position he believed he would succeed at. This is the first occasion recently that Meyer has referred to him as a quarterback, though that is probably a minor point.

One of the major issues with the system on Saturday was the fact that the coaching staff seemed to only bring redshirt junior quarterback John Brantley in on third-and-longs – obvious passing downs. Though Brantley’s performance was no doubt lackluster, he was not necessarily given a fair shake or allowed to possibly build any type of momentum throughout the contest. “Some of those are early first and 10s, it wasn’t all third and medium. But yeah, it probably is [unfair],” Meyer said. “We’re just trying to do the best we can to move the ball right now. Trying to find that mix.”

FAILED FAKE PUNT AND PENALTIES

In addition to the Gators’ three fumbles and interception, one of the most catastrophic mistakes made during the game was Meyer’s call of a fake punt on a 4th and 5 from inside Florida territory. Claiming he “just wanted to make something happen” for the team early with that call, Meyer realizes he made a game-changing mistake with the call. “It didn’t happen. It killed us,” he said.

Also of issue were the numerous drive-stalling penalties that landed the Gators in vulnerable spots throughout the game. “Awful. Real huge concern. That’s a huge concern,” he said of the miscues.

QUOTES (After the break…)On Brantley throwing the ball at the end of the second half: “We were just out of timeouts. We knew we had to start throwing the ball in the end zone and take a shot. A field goal was really not going to help us so we needed to go score.”

On immediate coaching changes: “I’m not going to get into that right now.”

On if this game was the biggest eye-opener for him about having to rebuild: “No. I’ve felt this way for a while.”

On coaching changes and staff adjustments: “I’m not ready to comment on that because I have not had the reflective moment. Usually I wait until after the recruiting season to do all that. I’m going to get real busy obviously.”

On if the passing game has regressed throughout the season: “Awful.”

On where to go from here: “The University of Florida, we expect to be an elite program. Right now we dipped a little bit. I also want to take care of our seniors. We’re going to go do the best we can to win this bowl game. Obviously we’re not good in some spots, but at times we looked real good. If you take care of the ball, at halftime, it’s a much different ball game.”

On if he is shocked to have lost five of the last eight games: “No. Five of the last eight?! It’s been a battle.”

On problems in the secondary: “They got us on a few of them. I think we played against a very good quarterback, but we did not play well on the back end. They got us on a couple double cuts because guys were being aggressive back there.”

On how to get things going for the bowl game: “Bowl practice is tremendous for young players to develop and get guys healthy. We had a vision of being the fastest team in America; you’re not looking at the fastest team in America right now.”

On why he is most vocal about the problems now: “The season’s over. That’s because it’s our last game. The most key thing is we’re going to go out recruiting and guys are going to have an opportunity to come in and play.”

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Can everyone please stop white washing the Brantley experiment? Brantley wasn’t put in for only 3rd and long all season was he? Did he produce at all when he played the entire game? No he did not. He is not a D1 QB, certainly not in this offense. Stupid is as stupid does, playing Brantley after the 2nd game of the season was STUPID. Urban got what he deserved, and we all suffered through this season. Meyer needs to grow some nads and stop playing Brantley at all effective the bowl game. This game is not a reward for a good season. This game is to finally make the changes that should have been made and build for next season.

Stop with the “Brantley must go” nonsense. He waited 3 years, was an all-american in HS, performed well when called upon in spring and mop up duty. And was told all through the summer that the offense was going to be tweaked around his strengths. I’m sorry, but the coaches let him down and in turn let us down. The offensive game planning sets him up to fail. The line can’t protect him. And instead of practicing plays that are designed to maximize his strengths, we apparently spend all our time in practice each week lining up in different formations to try and disguise the same 9 plays we’ve been running all season (that only work against Vanderbilt, App st. and kentucky). Brantley, deserved better and so does Gator Nation. Our teams failure was not his fault. The blame belongs elsewhere and I think its obvious.

I don’t think the Reed QB reference was minor (perhaps wishful thinking). He also noted that the team was moving until he left the game. I think that is somewhat of an endorsement of Reed at the QB position. Brantley has been a miserable failure. I NEVER liked the three QB system, and I am glad it has been exposed as a miserable failure. Even in games where it “worked,” the teams were either terrible, or if you look more closely at the stats, most of the successful drives involved Reed/Burton. The inevitable conclusion is that Brantley must leave the lead position.

for the short term i’ll bet reed becomes the starter. he’s does not have a great grasp of the offense but he seems to have a better arm than brantley and his ability to run gives him the edge. brantely seems to have lost his confidence….does anyone else notice that he appears to wind up as much as tebow and his release is very slow…..he does not look at all like he did last year. …..our O line is awful or we are just bad at picking up stunts etc…….and i believe some coaches need to go….we have the talent…we are not a 5 loss team in terms of talent….but the three quarterback system looked more like the three stooges yesterday….we need one solid leader……i believe we will rebound next year……go gators!…….hope billy the kid whips FSU tonight

Yes Brantley was an all American, but he played in one of the smaller divisions in Florida. not 4 or 5 A. Everyone needs to realize, even with the best athletes and game planning, he is not that good. he would be an all American for Furman or Valdosta State, but not here.

You can dress up the offense and try to disguise it anyway you want, throw in new parts, rotate ’em, line up differently, but if the plays suck, it won’t make much difference. I don’t care who our quarterback is, if the guy with the head phones keeps dialing up pop-warner plays, we’re going to continue to fail.

Granted the offense is not suited for Brantley, But, that is no excuse for his extremely inaccurate arm. His poor decision making, always hits the check down 5 yd pass. Or his ability to ball up in a turtle shell when faced with a pass rush. Brantley is not now or will he ever be a “good” QB.

G8 – my point was, that the offense was suppose to be suited for Brantley. If we decide to bench him next season and go with someone else, fine, then do it. But, it is extremely unfair to rest the failure of this season squarely on the shoulders of a 20 year old kid, who never had a chance with an offensive game plan that clearly can’t evolve from one game to the next. I’ve read that he can’t check down receivers, has no pocket presence and is inaccurate. Which are all true to some degree, but from a very narrow view point. He has no pocket presence because there is no pocket. And he has shown the ability to throw it down field, but they wait to go down field when it becomes obvious after we’re down by 24 mid-way thru the 3rd qtr. He’s chasing snaps that are over his head or rolled to his feet. Receivers keep dropping passes that are catchable. His confidence is shot and yes, maybe its time to go into another direction. I know I come across as a JB apologist, I guess I am, but the coaches screwed this kids opportunity up by putting him in a position to fail. I want to see some accountability from the coaching staff and so far I havent.

This year has been a big ole cluster you know what all around from the coaches to the players. Don’t think I have ever seen so much bad luck and injuries come into play for a team in one season but JB is not a UF caliber qb (I feel really bad for the guy), SA has to go (running the dive play down 24 on the road with time running out) or this thing is going to get even worse next year. Not even sure he should coach the OL, they were terrible also.
Everyone is excited about Driskel, but how far can you go with a true freshman as a starter. Looks like a 2+ year rebuild instead of a one year bump in the road.

reed should b the qb and he should pitch it to burton and rainey around the ends, a lot.. and maybe we can get a big tailback for a change. meyer should stop putting so much emphasis on speed only and get some guys who can think and do a little blocking as well. recruiting priorities every year should be oline #1 and not just the biggest guy u can find either, find someone whose got size but can also add a few #s together so he maybe can figure out how to pick up a blitz. #2 is dline, #3 is linebackers, #4 is running backs and receivers #5 is dbacks and qb is last.. seems like way too much effort is put into the qb’s and skill positions every year (at the xpense of the oline) which aint gonna do didley w/out great lineman and a great d. and then of course u have to get some good coaches (who dont take a full year to see weaknesses that everyone else has seen since the 1st few games) to teach these teenagers some discipline. uf’s got a lot of hard work in front of it and u have to wonder how many games we wude have won the last few years w/out tebow putting the team on his back in so many games.

I’ll second Scooterp’s first post…get off of Brantley….we kept the same offense and then when it blew up mid-season we jerked the kid in and out…tried to install a hurry up offense in two weeks…….this entire offense was a failure and with the talent we had most of the blame has to fall on the OC and the coaching staff period!!!!

I’m a Brantley Apologist I guess. He has played pretty poorly the last three weeks, but that may be a part of the 3QB thing we do. With our o-line though and limited passing plays even Sam Bradford would suck in this system, and he played in a spread offense. Reed looks like a great athlete, but his passing was awful on Saturday. Basically he faked a run and chucked it. That will not work against anyone but Vandy or Kentucky. Tebow struggled to make this offense work last year, and Reed is not Tebow. The superman jumps are dumb, twice he would have made a heck of a lot more yards if he would have kept his feet, and would have avoided a concussion.

I hope we bring in a new OC with a spread passing game and work this year to get out of the Tebow play formula and give defenses some new plays to defend especially in the secondary. Let Brantley, Reed and Driskel compete for the job in the new offense. Recruit offensive linemen and push our existing guys hard in the offseason so they are actually ready next year.

The good news is Meyer sounds as though he will change, and it doesn’t sound like BS this time.

I think everybody needs to get their head out of the clouds with John Brantley. I, too, after seeing his mop-up play last year, thought he was gonna step in and give us an amazing passing game. But he has proven otherwise. And in quite a dramatic fashion, too. I can count on one hand the number of deep balls he’s thrown that were on target, and as previously mentioned, his tendency to checkdown, curl into a ball or just not even sense the pash rush, or lock onto a receiver has been nauseating. I think everybody’s somehow forgetting the fact that, before the 3 QB system, he had ample opportunity to prove himself, which mostly resulted in sub-200 yard passing games and an overall lack of cahones whatsoever. I’d feel much better with someone who is a natural and instinctive athlete like Reed at quaterback, so long as they don’t try to make him Tebow 2.0. There’s only one Tebow!

The Gator collapse of 2010 has very little to do with Brantley but very much to do with poor coaching and poor preparation on the part of the coaching staff. We started the season off poorly against Miami of Ohio and ended the regular season looking worse than we did 12 games earlier. The entire team played poorly all year and seemed to have difficulty with the basic fundamentals of football (blocking, tackling, running, throwing, catching). In addition, we were undisciplined in the execution of the shoddy game plan put in place by the coaching staff. The only bright spot this year for our team was Chas Henry, and he is gone to the NFL. I believe that Urban Meyer needs to demote Addazio immediately or risk losing his job next year. Serious consideration should also be given to getting rid of Coach Austin as our defense was porous all year long. Urban needs to take back control of this team now or else we will be looking at a 5-7 season next year.

Meyer was quoted as saying that he is going to throw out everything that does not work on offense. If he is true to his word and finally acknowledges all the issues we have collectively been screaming about all year, we may actually say goodbye to Brantley and Addazio. Both have failed miserably this year and maybe they don’t fit the system or maybe its a lack of talent or both. I hear Binn College may take them. Either way, recruiting is going to be tough after a ton of florida recruits witnessed first hand the worst coached florida team I have seen since the Tampa Bay Bucs of the 1970’s. Most recruits get sold on the prospect of early playing time but it was fairly obvious that coaching is the major problem that we have on both sides of the ball. Too bad we lost Dan McCarney to North Texas, maybe he’ll take Austin and the rest of our overpaid assistants with him. We need a clean slate and this time we should fill the positions with people that have experience and success at those positions. Randy Shannon for DC? Mike Leach for OC? Kerwin Bell to QB coach/passing coordinator?

I wonder which bowl game will want us? A team that is sloppy at best with a fan base that is pissed off, won’t be excited about the game, won’t spend the money to travel and would like to think of the season as OVER.

LOL….some of you guys that think firing Addazio is going to solve that Gators problems are laughable.

Let’s recap:

AFTER (not before but after) the 2005 Season it was, “Why the hell did we hire Urban Meyer, the spread offense is NEVER going to work in the SEC. The defenses are too fast. – WRONG

2006 Season we need to fire Dan Mullens his play calling sucks – WRONG = National Title x2 and a Heisman with Mullens.

2007 Our defense is a joke. Some of you guys wanted CHARLIE STRONG FIRED are you kidding me? – WRONG and the 2008 defense was incredible.

2008 pretty much no one complained but then again some of you always do because you’re spoiled whiners.

2009 We moved the ball all over the field but couldn’t get the ball into the endzone when we got inside the 20 yard line. Addazio was your coordinator and we had more yards per game than the 2008 team, and far less playmakers on offense. A guy by the name of Billy Gonzalez was your REDZONE offensive coordinator. He game planned the plays in the redzone…where we happened to be least affective.

I’m not saying Addazio is great (he’s clearly struggling), but what I am saying is if we listened to you guys every time the Gators don’t go undefeated we’d be screwed (btw, they’ve never had an undefeated season babies).

Meyer has hired the following coaches: Kyle Whittngham, Dan Mullens, Charlie Strong, Doc Holliday, and Dan McCarney. They are all D-1 head football coaches. You might let him do the hiring and firing. I’m sure he’ll leave the spoiled baby whining up to the message board guys like some of you.

BTW, for you guys defending Brantley: True freshman Trey Burton had to call a timeout to save us a delay of game penalty this weekend because Brantley had NO idea what the situation was in the game. I agree with most that it’s not fair to throw Brantley under the bus for this team’s lack of success but he isn’t helping the situation. He can’t manage a game, he can’t find open receivers, he can’t hit Rainey out of the backfield when he’s standing only 10 yards away, and he can’t catch a shotgun snap (watch ANY other team whose quarterback is in the shotgun, not all those snaps are right where they should be). The reality is Brantley has to be accountable for his lack of performance as well. He shouldn’t get a free pass because you might not like the coach. The fact is two freshman each running a 10th of the offense are still each as affective as your junior quarterback with 3 years of experience.

Tim – I never complained about most of that. Although, I admitt I do recollect shaking my head at their offense in ’05 and ’06; the difference between then and now is Mullens offense evolved through out the season, where this one hasn’t. The offense this last week executed the same, ran the same plays and provided the same results as week 1. The only difference is they line up differently and rotate QBs.

With the news that McCarney will be leaving and heading to North Texas, it makes this Gator wonder what Urban thinks when he sits back and watches 7 of his coaches leave for other jobs, but no offers come in for Addazio? Hmmm….. 2 championships in 4 years, and your offensive line/offensive cordinator doesnt get an offer? This season was lost from the start. The inability of this coaching staff to mold the offense to the talent they have (as they said they were going to do all offseason) shows an arrogance an stubborness that I think all of Gator Nation should be worried about. Watching this offense was like watching someone repeatdly bash their head against a brick wall hoping that with every headbutt a different result would come. No Brantley cannot run the option. No you cant put Trey Burton in at QB and expect him to surprise a defense when he runs up the middle again, he needs to show some kind of passing threat (not a jump pass on 4th down at Alabama). For goodness sake can someone tell Jordan Reed to stop diving over the offensive line at midfield, because until Jeff Driskel enrolls in Janurary, you are our best option at QB. Im starting to think that Brantley stole the computer, gave it to Cam Newton, and then called the police after because he knew that with a QB like Newton he would never have his chance to ruin the gators. Too bad he decommited from Texas. I understand he is a gator legacy and his uncle still does a radio show for the gators but please put the family ties aside and bench Brantley. On another note why does Addazio have such a large play sheet, surely 9 plays don’t take up that much space. I understand that Urban preaches Family, and Addazio has been with Urban all thoughout his coaching tenure, but Urban gator Nation is begging you. Please, pretty please get rid of Steve Addazio, and if he’s not responsible for the mismanagement of this talent than get rid of whoever was. The arrogance in trying to prove that your Tebow led offense would work with someone not named Tim Tebow, (or Cam Newton, as Auburn has shown) and force feeding dive after dive, not adapting your offense to your skill set, losing to Mississippi State on Homecoming ……. ON HOMECOMING, getting embarrassed by the all girl school out west is unacceptable.

This is the most disgusting season in 21 years. When they broke out the orange uni’s for LSU originally I thought it was cool. But then it reminded me of years of mediocrity. The dark times of gator football. I remember those times and this season reminds me alot of 1989. Some people(like Tim) may think this is an overreaction, but do you think Miami fans were overreacting 9 years ago. No. They’ve been bad for awhile. FSU with Jeff Bowden. Do you think their fans were overreacting. No. Years of mediocrity. Steve Addazio is our Jeff Bowden and I’ve said it before, the Spread option is a complete gimmick offense and gimmick offenses don’t work in the SEC. When you have Tebow and Harvin you get away with it. Urban Meyer is too stubborn to realize that his offense didn’t score points when Leak was QB and when Brantley is QB…Same type of QB but Leak was MUCH more talented. There are definately problems. 1.The recruiting class is not as good as their rank 2.The offense needs a changed 3.All the coaches(less Meyer) need to go…Period…And by the way Tim, Charlie Strong was NOT hired by Meyer. He has been with the Gators since the end of the Spurrier era.

Yep Nick, you whined it all for everyone pretty good. You just claimed to know more about what the team needs than a coach with one of the best winning records in D-1.

Meyer: 6-1 in bowl games, 2 MWC Championships, 3 SEC East Titles, 2 SEC Championships, 2 National Titles, a Heisman trophy winner, and the 2009 Sports Illustrated and Sporting News Coach of the DECADE. Let me say that again because I don’t think you guys get that 2009 was only a year ago. The 2009 COACH OF THE DECADE.

You guys are probably the same type of people that drove Spurrier out of town. 7-5…not acceptable, but I think I choose to be anti-stupid fan, than anti-staff after ONE bad year. We can’t afford to run another great coach out of town. I’m sure you guys will try your hardest.

LOL…yep, fire the entire staff and bring in um….um…..yeah…let’s do that.

Charlie Strong was the first coach hired by Meyer. You can call it retained if you want to. But it doesn’t change the fact that he could have chosen to not have him on the staff. Strong worked for Meyer who was his boss. Just a side note he was a holdover from the Zook era. He left Florida and came back, but I get your point.

…and what are you talking about 9 years ago? Miami played in the 2001 Sugar Bowl 9 years ago and beat the heck out of us, followed by two National Title games (winning one, getting robbed in the other), and then the Orange Bowl at the end of the 2003 season. They took a dive in 2004 when they joined the ACC conference to bring in more revenue to the proogram and they weren’t kicking everyone’s butt in the Big East anymore. They fired Larry Coker who had an .800 winning percentage because like YOU, the fans weren’t happy. They hired Randy Shannon who has a .538 winning percentage. Yeah…that worked out well, let’s do that. Let’s panic and do something stupid.

I’m not going to argue with you about Jeff Bowden, that guy was a moron. BUT…they went 7-6 two more times in 4 years after bringing in Jimbo Fisher, and FSU won 2 ACC Championships with Jeff Bowden. Zero with Fisher.

Your examples are more of a lesson of becareful what you ask for than smart moves made in history.

Whatever, you’re not listening to me, and I’m not listening to you, and hopefully the coach isn’t listening to anyone that doesn’t spend as much time with the team and staff as he does.

Tim – I haven’t read anywhere, where someone wants to get rid of Meyer. He’s earned the benefit of the doubt. His offense was largely effective in ’07(no defense), ’08(after Arky 1st half), ’09(minus the red zone) and ’06(just enough to win title). But, fair questions are being expressed. Why so stubborn after week 2, to stick with something that clearly wasn’t working? Why keep Pouncey under center? Why can’t we design a pass play beyond 8 yards before the fourth quarter? Why do the first 2 offensive series look exactly the same every week? Why do we need to rotate 40 players in the game and not develop some sort of continuity(sp?) with the starters? Why did it take the coaching staff to suffer yet another ambarrassing beatdown, during the last game no less, to finally admit what everyone in the CFB universe has been saying since Miami of Ohio: we need to make changes”? Why can’t this experienced offensive line pass protect?….Lastly, why did you say over the summer and throughout the spring that we are going to make changes and “tweak” the offense to better suit JB skill sets, when you obviously didn’t? Sorry, but they are fair questions.

You asked a lot of legitimate questions, but I just wanted to point out a few things.

1) Pouncey started the season rough but from a snapping standpoint he was fine the rest of the year. Even blocking he performed well almost every game down the stretch – it was everyone around him that really seemed to struggle against the blitz…he can’t block two men after snapping the ball.

2) Meyer is not going to call out his coaching staff before the season is over. Never has, never will. Things may have been bad – awful – but when you tell people you don’t believe in the coaches around you with games to go you are simply forfeiting them. It also hurts recruiting. In addition to that, he is not one to shy away from blame – he prefers to put it on his shoulders and make the necessary changes when HE deems them necessary. In fact, during his FSU post-game preser, he says just that – that he is giving these opinions now because the season is “over.”

I do want to comment on one thing: We had plenty of playmakers on offense last year, just watch the NFL performance. Cooper and Hernandez are both studs. We just need an offensive game plan that gets receivers in space early, like every other spread passing attack. All of our routes develop late which is a problem when the pass protection is so poor (this year and last year).

Tim: seems like you are over reacting more to the posters than the posters are over reacting to the coaches. Yep, I’m not as football smart as meyer or even Addazio. So I guess I’m one of those “stupid fans”, but I do get curious as to why other legendary coaches such as; Paterno, Saban, Mack Brown, & Steve Spurrier haven’t jumped on the bandwagon and let their OC also coach the offensive line? Maybe you are right. Maybe Meyer is a super genius and knows more than all those other coaches.
I’ll follow Meyer as long as he’s the coach. He’s earned it. I’ll even stick with a kid that waited 3 years for his shot. I personally think JB will start next season and surprise everyone. And I hope he does. But SA’s playcalling has to be revoked. Not that he needs to be fired, but put him back on oline and let him focus on one job – not two extremely demanding jobs.
One more thing: the ‘dive’ play needs to be sunk.

The only thing I can say to all the questions is….The coach sees these players every day in practice. The coach doesn’t want to lose to FSU, he doesn’t want to lose to SC. I can’t speak for him but I think that’s a fair assessment. I believe if they felt they had a better option they would have gone with it.

I also disagree that Brantley was not given a fair shot to run a more pass oriented offense and encourage everyone to go back to the game tapes from earlier in the season. Once teams realized they could blitz Brantley and we couldn’t protect him….THAT is when we had to do something different.

Brantley couldn’t read deffenses and hit the hot route. Throws were often over or underthrown or Brantley held the Ball and took a sack. Add to that an O-Line just wasn’t that good this year. A pass being batted down isn’t always necessarily a quarterback issue. Early on teams were bringing a safety and/or a linebacker here or there and we just couldn’t protect Brantley. Once they realized Brantley wasn’t a threat to get the ball to an open receiver, and wasn’t going to break through the line for any significant yardage, defenses became fearless and brought the HOUSE and played man on the outside.

Personally I think the failure of the coaching staff was to put all their eggs in the Brantley basket, but why wouldn’t they? The guy looked good in cleanup duty last year, he looked great in the spring game, one backup was a true freshman, and the other missed most of preseason practice. I think the O.C. also failed to get our line prepared pretty much all year. The penalties game after game and the balls batted down at the line of scrimage is just lack of dissapline. That’s a coaching problem. For the reasons mentioned earlier, Brantley’s own issues just put gasoline on the fire. That’s why they say it’s a team win and a team loss.

“I’ll even stick with a kid that waited 3 years for his shot. I personally think JB will start next season and surprise everyone” – Wouldn’t surprise me if everything sudently just clicked for Brandley like it did for Leak against OSU. Nothing would make me happier. If it doesn’t he can sit the bench next season like any other player that doesn’t live up to their potential. Would hate for it to come to that but his issues are real issues.

“And I hope he does. But SA’s playcalling has to be revoked. Not that he needs to be fired, but put him back on oline and let him focus on one job – not two extremely demanding jobs.” – To be clear, I’m not saying that SA should be the O.C. next year. That’s not at all my point. My point is, this is Meyer’s team. He give the okay to everything, he knows what the game plan is. Point the finger the correct direction. Don’t sit here and call for SA’s job. If I hire an employee that tells me every mess up he’s about to make BEFORE he goes out there and makes it then that’s MY fault. If you think Meyer shows up Saturday and says, “Hey guys what are we doing today” you’re sadly mistaken.

“One more thing: the ‘dive’ play needs to be sunk.” You take the dive play out of our offense and we don’t win the National Title in 2008, we don’t beat Georgia this year on a the back of a 51 yard Burton gain and the list goes on. That’s just silly. It just shouldn’t be called every third play.

On me overreacting to the negative posters – YEP…tired of the vocal minority and their poorly thought out “recommendations”. I wonder if you guys want to sell your cars when you get a flat tire LOL.

Tim:
2 quick points.
First the dive play only works when you have a qb that is a threat to keep the ball and run. JB is not that guy and if you only run it with Burton then it losses its effectiveness. So in order for them to run it with Burton, they had to run it with JB and that cost us possessions. Sure it may work once in a few different games, but so does the reverse and I don’t want that to be our bread and butter.

“I wonder if you guys want to sell your cars when you get a flat tire” – GREAT POINT. except this season shouldn’t be likened to a “flat tire”. If the zooker years were a flat tire, this season was a wreck – not totalled but a good fender bender. And yes, if I’m one of the top 3 richest people in the country (UF is one of the richest colleges in the country) and I wreck my car – why would I take a chance that the “repairs” are going to be like new. Just go buy another new car. I think its time we bought another new OC.
Notice I’m not beating the defensive coordinator up. He’s had one year. I’m ok with giving him a shot, but SA has had two years and I’m not impressed with his playcalling ability. The Pouncey’s are a credit to him on the OLine so put him back there.

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